


Death By Heartbreak

by Hamatopurity



Series: Soul Spark AU [1]
Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Abuse Themes, PTSD, Snatcher is not a happy camper, Super dark themes ahead, Will Add More Later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-15
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-10-29 00:55:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17798012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hamatopurity/pseuds/Hamatopurity
Summary: Snatcher wasn’t always the way he was, let us take a look at the adjustment period of being dead, shall we?





	Death By Heartbreak

Prince Victor, never did like the cold.

 

He never knew what it was, but the bitterness of the cold never felt  _ right  _ to him, maybe it was to be expected, being skilled in fire magic and the like.

 

Now here he was, locked up, dangling above the ground and the cellar was cold...so very chillingly cold, Victor didn’t know how long he’s been like this, there’s no way of telling time but…

 

 Once again, he asks himself  _ why?  _ He’d only wanted to surprise his love with flowers  _ so why was he given such a fate? _

 

What did he do  _ wrong? _

 

__ He’d long lost any feeling in his limbs long ago and it felt...so very hopeless Vanessa would ever let him out…

 

Not even his magic worked...must be from his chains if he had to guess, but one last time wouldn’t hurt...right?

 

 With a painful twist from his shoulders, Victor tried to will something  _ anything  _ with his magic, he felt like wood ready to snap, just a little more…

 

“C’mon...co **me ON!!!** **ARRRHHHHHAAA!!!!** ”

 

_ SNAP! _

 

__ The blissful sound of chains snapping reached his ears, Victor shivered as he managed to grab the wall to keep himself from falling in a heap.

 

The once chained prince felt tears roll down his cheeks, he was  _ free, _ after all this time he was finally  _ free! _

 

In his joy, a shine caught his eye, he looked, and it was his crown! It must’ve fallen when he first got chained up…

 

 Picking it up, he decided the best course of action would be to find the door, the outside was so close now-

 

**_“My prince ~?”_ **

 

**** Victor couldn’t hold back the frightened whimper at the sound of the sickly sweet voice, he had to get out of here!

 

He couldn’t feel his legs, he blamed the cold, so he crawled with his crown in one hand, moving as quickly as he could until he reached the door-

 

_ BANG! _

 

__ The blistering winds nearly threw the old prince back, he gripped his hands deep in the snow, and crawled as fast as he could, faster when he heard a bloodcurdling scream.

 

——————————————————————

 

Victor felt ready to breakdown when he saw what was left of Subcon Village.

 

The buildings were either on fire or frozen, it was hard to believe this was even a village at all.

 

But gods, what was left of the villagers themselves had Victor absolutely  _ mortified. _

 

__ So many people, most of them  _ children,  _ were frozen solid in petrified statues, terrified faces etched on their features…

 

He didn’t want to admit it, but after everything, this was no doubt Vanessa’s work…

 

He stopped.

 

There was a pillar of ice, something caught his eye, so he looked closer.

 

Victor almost wished he hadn’t.

 

The former prince reeled back as he looked into a pair of gold, glowing eyes, what should be his reflection, was a dark violet creature, its face similar to that of a Jack-O-Lantern, a wild mane around its neck; it had long, noodly arms with only two clawed fingers on each hand, and instead of legs had a long tail.

 

 The creature had the same look of shock and terror as Victor felt, the creature felt its face and it truly sank in that this creature was  _ him, _ oh gods, oh gods, the former human felt his face and was close to hyperventilating.

 

“ **Oh gods...what-what did Vanessa do to me?! What…** ” he was startled by his voice, it now echoed and sounded distorted.

 

_ What in the world was he now?! _

 

Victor leaned against the dark, dead tree he’d bumped into at his shock, he’d began shaking, how long was he trapped in that foresaken manor? 

 

No. He couldn’t just sit here and wallow in self pity, there had to be some survivors, something he could actually  _ do _ .

 

 The former prince gripped tightly to a nearby branch, which proved difficult with only two fingers “ **C’mon Victor...you can do this, you can do this…** ”

 

With some difficulty, Victor stood up, it took him a second to realize, however, that he was off the ground! Upon looking down, he saw he was actually  _ floating  _ a few feet above the ground.

 

“ **Well, this’ll make moving around easier at least…** ” with that, Victor picked his crown back up and began looking around the remains of the village.

 

 The shadow drifted through, there had to be  _ some  _ survivors, right?

 

“ **Hello? Is anybody here? D-don’t be afraid, I just want to help…** ” Victor looked left and right, gods, he could hardly recognize his own village…

 

“ **Are you lost?** ” 

 

Victor whipped around to the source of the voice and gasped softly at seeing a glistening, serpentine creature, it was a red color that seemed to glimmer in the moonlight and where the face would be, was a familiar fox mask.

 

“ **Wh- lost?** ” The strange creature seemed to give a slight nod “ **I’ve been lost for as long as I can remember...are you lost as well?** ”

 

The former prince looked at his new set of talons, flexing them slightly “ **...Something like that. Wait, where’d you come from? I-I’ve never seen anything like you in the village before!** ”

 

The creature, instead of answering outright, looked to one of the petrified ice statues, one that had a near identical fox mask.

 

It didn’t take much to our two and two together “ **I...see, gods, if I’d only been here...wait…** ” a thought occurred to him “ **Are there any others? Or are you alone?** ”

 

Rather than answering, the slithery spirit began floating in a direction, taking it as wanting him to follow it, Victor floated after the sad spirit.

 

  Looking around, it was shocking just how  _ different  _ this forest, Subcon...looked now, he barely recognized it anymore…

 

_ He barely recognized himself anymore… _

 

Victor was yanked from his thoughts when his little guide stopped, he looked up and gasped.

 

There, surrounded by a small pond, was the biggest tree Victor had ever seen! It stretched so far up, he couldn’t even see the top before the clouds and stars overtook the massive canopy; at the base was a sizable hollow, inside were many other spirits, of different colors and masks.

 

They appeared to have been napping before he approached them, and he was quickly crowded by the many spirits, one such spirit, a considerably smaller one looked up at his with a hopeful look “ **Prince Victor…?** ”

 

 “ **You-you recognize me? How, I...I don’t even look like myself, what..** ” the shadow gave a shuddering breath “ **What happened while I was...gone?** ”

 

A few looked at each other before the spirit that led him here spoke up “ **We can sense it...your aura… it speaks volumes…** ”

 

    Another spirit asked rather timidly “ **Are...well I mean, will you help us, Prince Victor? Please… it’s been terrible since the ice froze over and we were...left this way…** ”

 

The smaller Spirit sounded on the verge of crying “ **please, your highness...snatch us away from this...it’s been...so cold and lonely…** ”

 

   Victor bent down, at least the best he could without legs, and did his best to comfort the small Spirit “ **It’s-it’s gonna be alright, I don’t know how...but, I’ll find a way to help you all, I promise.** ”

 

 For now though, the former prince found himself exceedingly tired from all that has transpired, and soon found himself curling his long body in the massive trees hollow, not unlike a massive snake, the many spirits dwelled a bit, but soon laid against and curled up with their ruler.

 

Victor-  _ ‘no, I don’t deserve that name anymore, not after everything that has happened, if it weren’t for me, Vanessa wouldn’t have snapped and they wouldn’t be in this state, I snatched away their futures…’ _

 

_ Snatch...er _

 

_ A much more fitting name for a  _ **_fool_ ** _ of a prince. _


End file.
